Broadband absorption spectra and ab initio calculations are combined to complete and reinterpret part of the vacuum ultraviolet spectra of the CF radical. We have found a new band at 190.8 nm which we have assigned to the CF C 2Σ+–X 2Π (1,0) transition. Ab initio calculations show that the band at 186.6 nm formerly assigned as CF C′ 2Σ+–X 2Π (0,0) by White et al. [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 75, 318 (1979)] corresponds to the CF C 2Σ+–X 2Π (2,0) band. The CF C 2Σ+ state is heavily perturbed by the A 2Σ+ state and by repulsive Σ+2 states. The observed predissociation pattern for the C 2Σ+ (v′=0,1,2) states is well reproduced by the calculations. Information on the CF C 2Σ+–X 2Π and D 2Π–X 2Π electronic transition moments and corresponding oscillator band strengths is also presented.